Pupils of the nursery section of the ISA Islamic School on East Street, Georgetown now have a better opportunity to enhance their learning through play after the school was boosted with a $4.3 million recreational park.
The park is complete with modern swings, slides and a gazebo while the concrete fence is decorated with colourful and attractive artwork done by Aaidah Bacchus, a former top student of ISA, who is now attending the University of Guyana.
At a simple ceremony to commission the facility, businessman Nazar Mohamed, who funded the construction, handed over the keys to Chairman of the Board of Directors of ISA Muhammad Mujay. ISA is an arm of the Guyana Islamic Trust (GIT).
Mohamed told the gathering that looking at the faces of the beautiful students, he reflected on the children of other countries around the world like Syria, Palestine and in Africa, “who have been maimed and disfigured and cannot attend school because they are in war-torn areas due to bad politics.”
The GIT had purchased the land with funds donated by the Islamic Development Bank.
The play area was constructed after some dilapidated buildings that were on the land were torn down. Mohamed was thankful to God that the park materialized and happy that it was another addition to the ISA projects.
He said he hoped the children would have full benefit of the facility, which was made possible through paid and voluntary workers.
He singled out Bacchus, his niece, for revealing her hidden talents in painting the illustrations on the fence.
Receiving the keys, Mujay told the small gathering that the commissioning was historical.
He thanked Mohamed for his continued effort and said the board was very happy when he offered to fund the facility and “went right ahead and got it done in record time.”
He prayed that God would “bless him and his family for the generous donations that he continues to give to ISA so that ISA continues to develop.”
He asked the teachers to take care of the facility and ensure that it is always well maintained. He said he knew that the children would love the park, and it would give them the opening to release their energy.
Principal of ISA Akram Husein said the facility has uplifted ISA and the children now have an enabling environment to develop their psychomotor skills.
He said: “When you think about nursery school… it is a time for play and enjoyment and learning through play and fun…”
He promised that “from the administration level, we would try our utmost to maintain the facility so that the students would continue to benefit from it for a long time.”
President of the GIT Aleem Rahim, offered a prayer before the facility was declared open.
